In recent years, Prof. Zvi Peleg's laboratory at the Faculty of Agriculture has developed new sesame varieties with improved yield and quality adapted to mechanized harvesting, as part of a move to return this important crop to seed in Israel. However, there remains a significant challenge of dealing with weeds which can lead to a significant reduction in crops as a result of competition for resources.

In Peleg's laboratory, for the first time, sesame varieties resistant to herbicides from the ALS enzyme inhibitor family were developed by introducing a mutation in the SiALS gene. This breakthrough constitutes the first report on sesame with resistance to herbicides, and opens new opportunities for the development of innovative varieties adapted to modern agriculture in Israel.